Melvin Levett celebrates the Bearcats' C-USA championship.
(Ernest Coleman photo)
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There is a block of wood above the entrance to the Cincinnati Bearcats locker room at the Shoemaker Center. It was not there before, because UC did not have a slogan before, but somewhere in coach Bob Huggins' media lectures about his team's resilience, he came up with the words:
Find A Way.
The plaque was tacked above the door this weekend, and the Bearcats did as they were told. They found a way to ignore fatigue and injury, to survive foul trouble. And then they found themselves atop a stepladder, cutting down another net, this to celebrate a 71-57 win over North Carolina Charlotte and Conference USA tournament championship.
They did the same thing a week ago upon winning the regular season title. There are more nets out there for No. 14 UC (26-5) to assault in the NCAA Tournament, where they will head with the automatic invitation earned with this win.
The Bearcats have won conference tournaments in six of the past seven years.
''I can't imagine anyone in America working harder than we work,'' Huggins said. He admitted to wondering, when forward Bobby Brannen and guard D'Juan Baker developed tendinitis in their knees, whether his sacred three-hour practices were appropriate. ''But things like this keep happening to us in March, so it must be the way to go.''
Players and fans exult.
(Saed Hindash photo)
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Brannen led UC's scoring with 16 points, getting half those from the foul line, and sixth man Melvin Levett broke from a short slump with 15 points.
UC center Kenyon Martin was named most valuable player, although he played just 19 minutes of the title game because of foul trouble. Baker, who scored 14 points, and point guard Michael Horton were named to the all-tournament team.
Huggins' point about resilience, made often enough in the past month, can be ascertained from the fact all three players were suspended at some point, Horton for the three games preceding this tournament.
''Coming back, I played pretty well,'' said Horton, who scored 12 and finished the tournament with 19 assists and seven turnovers. His defense held 49ers guard Sean Colson to 4-of-15 shooting and 12 points.
With the championship game contested less than 14 hours after UC won Friday's semifinal, it was not easy to produce an ideal effort. Fatigue had a greater effect on UNCC, however, because its semifinal did not end until nearly midnight. The 49ers do not have the luxury of stashing two members of their starting front line on the bench for half the game.
Kenyon Martin was tourney MVP.
(Saed Hindash photo)
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''We just kind of ran out of gas,'' said UNCC coach Melvin Watkins. ''I know it was hard for these guys to calm down. I think I closed my eyes around 4 or 5. I know our kids could play in this environment.''
In addition to getting only 21 minutes and five points from forward Ruben Patterson, who struggled against UNCC's defense, the Bearcats lost Martin for the final 15 minutes of the first half.
With one foul in his pocket, he was buried underneath the hoop as DeMarco Johnson caught the ball. Rather than leave one shot unchallenged, Martin tried what he could to prevent a score. Instead, Johnson wound up with a three-point play and Martin with a seat on the bench.
He wound up as a well-rested MVP. Martin packed eight points, six rebounds and two blocks into his cameo, and he had much to do with the dismantling of Johnson's offense.
Johnson, the league's player of the year, he was held to 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting.
Michael Horton, suspended for three games prior to the tournament, was named to the all-tourney team.
(Saed Hindash photo)
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Johnson's burgeoning frustration was evident when he was fouled with 12 minutes left by Brannen, just as Martin rose and slapped his shot off the backboard. Never a demonstrative player, Johnson pleaded for a goaltending call against Martin.
He didn't get it, nor either of the two free throws he'd earned. ''Once he started turning to the refs and yelling at them instead of talking, we knew we had him rattled,'' Levett said.
Johnson's misses came during an 11-0 Bearcats run that carried them from a one-point deficit at the 18:24 mark to a 48-38 lead on a tip by Martin. A lot of that was simply a matter of beating the defense, a defense worn to exhaustion, for fastbreak baskets.
''This group has competed as hard as any we've had in the nine years I've been here,'' Huggins said. ''They're a tribute to what hard work, perseverance and good people can do. I'm extremely proud of them.''
UC got what it deserved Paul Daugherty column
UC can make case for No. 2 seed
Notebook: Schedule to be addressed
NC CHARLOTTE (57)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Johnson 39 6-15 5-7 2-5 0 4 17
Shaw 15 1-2 0-0 2-2 0 1 2
Price 36 3-8 1-4 5-11 0 3 7
Colson 36 4-15 2-2 0-3 4 4 12
Young 27 4-9 1-1 0-5 0 5 10
Hill 23 2-4 0-0 1-1 1 2 5
Guevara 18 0-3 0-0 1-2 0 3 0
Thomas 3 0-0 1-2 1-1 0 0 1
Tolliver 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 3
Smith 1 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 21-58 10-16 12-31 6 22 57
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Percentages: FG-.362, FT-.625. 3-Point Goals:
5-19, .263 (Johnson 0-1, Shaw 0-1, Colson 2-6,
Young 1-4, Hill 1-3, Guevara 0-2, Tolliver 1-1,
Smith 0-1). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 2
(Johnson, Price). Turnovers: 14 (Johnson 6,
Colson 3, Hill 2, Young 2, Shaw). Steals: 5
(Price 2, Colson, Hill, Young).
CINCINNATI (71)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Patterson 21 2-7 1-5 0-4 1 2 5
Brannen 38 4-6 8-9 3-5 4 3 16
Martin 19 3-6 2-4 2-6 0 4 8
Baker 36 5-11 4-4 0-5 0 2 14
Horton 34 5-10 2-5 2-3 2 2 12
Fletcher 21 0-1 1-2 1-3 0 3 1
Myrick 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Levett 26 6-11 0-0 2-6 0 2 15
Petrus 2 0-0 0-0 1-1 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 25-52 18-29 11-33 7 18 71
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Percentages: FG-.481, FT-.621. 3-Point Goals:
3-15, .200 (Patterson 0-2, Martin 0-1, Baker 0-5,
Horton 0-1, Levett 3-6). Team rebounds: 8.
Blocked shots: 3 (Martin 2, Patterson).
Turnovers: 13 (Horton 4, Baker 3, Patterson 3,
Fletcher, Martin, Petrus). Steals: 8 (Baker 2,
Horton 2, Levett 2, Brannen, Fletcher).
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Nc Charlotte 32 25 - 57
Cincinnati 34 37 - 71
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Technical fouls: None. A: 11,098. Officials: Tom
O'neill, Steve Welmer, Steve Olson.
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